Houston Mayor Annise Parker: We'll Take This To The Voters And We'll Win

"Obviously, I am disappointed and believe the court is in error with this eleventh hour ruling in a case that had already been decided by a judge and jury of citizens. Nonetheless, we will proceed with the steps necessary for City Council to consider the issue. At the same time, we are consulting with our outside counsel on any possible available legal actions. Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance is similar to measures passed by every other major city in the country and by most local corporations. No matter the color of your skin, your age, gender, physical limitations, or sexual orientation, every Houstonian deserves the right to be treated equally. To do otherwise, hurts Houston’s well-known image as a city that is tolerant, accepting, inclusive and embracing of its diversity. Our citizens fully support and understand this and I have never been afraid to take it to the voters. We will win!" - Houston Mayor Annise Parker, via press release.

TEXAS: Haters Celebrate Houston Ruling

Much praising of God is taking place.

BREAKING: Texas Supreme Court Rules Houston Must Repeal LGBT Rights Law Or Place It To Public Vote In November

Via the Houston Chronicle:

The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that Houston City Council must repeal the city's equal rights ordinance or place it on the November ballot. The ruling comes three months after a state district judge ruled that opponents of Houston's contentious non-discrimination ordinance passed last year failed to gather enough valid signatures to force a repeal referendum. "We agree with the Relators that the City Secretary certified their petition and thereby invoked the City Council's ministerial duty to reconsider and repeal the ordinance or submit it to popular vote," the Texas Supreme Court wrote in a per curiam opinion. "The legislative power reserved to the people of Houston is not being honored." Houston City Council has 30 days to repeal the ordinance or place it on the November ballot.

Stand by for celebrations from the usual haters.

RELATED: LGBT rights laws similar to Houston's already exist in other major Texas municipalities including Austin, Brownsville, Dallas, Dallas County, Fort Worth, El Paso, Plano, San Antonio, Waco, and Walker County.

TEXAS: State Supreme Court Upholds The Divorce Of Same-Sex Couple

Via the Associated Press:

The Texas Supreme Court effectively upheld the Austin divorce of a same-sex couple Friday, turning away Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and arguments that the state can't dissolve a marriage it didn't recognize in the first place. The court, which is entirely stocked with elected Republicans, ruled in a 5-3 decision that the state lacked standing to intervene in the divorce of Angelique Naylor and Sabina Daly, who were married in Massachusetts in 2004. Declining to overturn the 2010 divorce has no impact on Texas' ban on gay marriage. But the ruling comes ahead of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that is expected any day now on whether same-sex marriage should be legal. The Texas court largely sidestepped those bigger issues at play, and instead ruled that the state lost because it waited too long to intervene.

Gov. Greg Abbott has issued a statement: "The Court mistakenly relied on a technicality to allow this divorce to proceed. Importantly, the Supreme Court did not address the Texas Constitution's definition of marriage — and marriage in Texas remains an institution between one man and one woman."

TEXAS: AG Asks State Supreme Court To Invalidate Travis County Marriage

Via the Austin Statesman:

Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday asked the Texas Supreme Court to confirm that the marriage license issued to an Austin same-sex couple a day earlier was void. As the product of a “trial court’s improper order,” Paxton argued, the marriage license was never legally valid. Paxton argued that the Supreme Court’s Thursday stay, which blocked an order by state District Judge David Wahlberg, confirmed that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage remained in effect, voiding “any same-sex marriage in Texas, no matter when or where it was entered into.” Sarah Goodfriend, left, and Suzanne Bryant were married Thursday by Rabbi Kerry Baker in Austin. Wahlberg’s ruling ordered Travis County officials to issue a marriage license to Sarah Goodfriend and Suzanne Bryant, leading to their wedding Thursday morning. In addition to voiding that marriage, Paxton asked the Supreme Court to make it clear that lower courts cannot rule on the constitutionality of the state’s ban on same-sex marriages while the issue is being reviewed by the Texas and U.S. Supreme Courts.

The attorney for the couple maintains that the marriage was valid at the time it was officiated.